Nothing better than....

ice cream on vacation.



yum.

Hoi An

After our trip to Halong Bay (and another quick evening in Hanoi) we caught a flight from Hanoi to Danang.

First off for people looking to travel to the area: note: if you are flying internally in Vietnam and traveling via Vietnam Airlines, be forewarned that they don't actually give you a seat number until you get to the airport and check in. This would have been something good for us to know (because they put all of us all over the plane). We were able to work it out, but it was a quick lesson learned. Thankfully most people are nice when you have kids. :) SO, the lesson from this, show up at the airport early, be prepared to not sit with your loved ones and be patient. Ahhhh, patience.

We arrived in Danang and the temperature had risen about 15 degrees (ahhhh, summer). Our driver wasn't on time (frustration... again... with the patience) and we had to wait around the airport for awhile (which, like all of the airports in Vietnam had many pieces of American influence i.e. runways, old helicopter bunkers). When we finally got a car, we headed to Hoi An. Driving past China Beach. Fairly surreal... to say the least.

We got to our hotel in Hoi An, it was called Hoi An Riverside Resort. It had a lovely atmosphere (and a great pool, to the kids delight). We enjoyed a nice lunch, got checked into our rooms, enjoyed a nap, a swim, some dinner and this sunset over the river....

Hoi An is an old port city in VietNam that has been revitalized as a tourist mecca. There were a number of historical buildings, pagodas and shrines around the town. Mainly though, the old town area was filled with shops and restaurants. Street after street of tailors that would sew you ANY item you were looking for and more odds and ends than you could pack in your suitcase.

We did take a short city tour of the old town. It was quite lovely.

Cleaner and more tourist friendly than Hanoi.

The girls inside on of they old houses. It was a hot day.

On the riverfront.

Our stop in Hoi An would not be complete without some tailored clothing. Mommy purchased a couple of dresses and the girls were interested in the Au Dai (the traditional Vietnamese dress of women). So, both of them were measured and got to pick out the silk of their choice.

Here is Alessandra being measured. I did have some photos of the girls in their Au Dai's, but they were gone when the camera was taken, so I will add one the next time they wear them!

In hindsight, we weren't crazy about Hoi An. It was a little TOO touristy for our taste. That being said, it did offer us a nice break from the craziness of Hanoi and some well needed down time. We swam every day and enjoyed our hotel, so in that light, it was a good place to go for a break.

Halong Bay

Dear Faithful readers,

Please bear with me as I add one of my longest posts ever (at least in the sheer number of photos). Our next stop on our Viet Nam trip was to Halong Bay. A World Heritage Site and considered by many to be a "wonder of the world" we were excited about this.

Here is Alessandra after we are dropped of by the docks. We were going to take a smaller boat our to our "Junk" which would be our home for the next 24 hours.

Here are the girls and I on the boat heading to the Junk.

Olivia - Junk in the background

Junks, Junks and more Junks.

We were greeted on board our Junk by LUNCH (you know how much we love lunch)

Here is Olivia (our fabulous 6year old who will try ANYTHING... once) With an Elephant Clam. She wasn't crazy about the texture, but she loved the taste.

Heading into Ha long Bay - a foggy, foggy day.

The girls on the top deck or out Junk. It was a bit drizzly and chilly, but we managed. (must be all of that time in Oregon, that prepared us).

We stopped at an incredible cave. Above the Junk you can see one of the cave outlines. We had to walk up hundreds of stairs to get up there. The Junk Captain offered for us to leave the kids on board while we went (um, yeah, I can see that going over well.... ) They went with us and did great!

Here is a look at the bay from the cave entrance.

One of the overlooks. Our happy family.

Brad and Olivia inside the giant cave.

Brad - Ha long Bay. Nice combo.

Walking back on the docks (from the cave) to find our Junk.

The next stop was a beach. Now, had the weather been clearer and warmer we would have likely swam (although the water had a bit of trash in it, so we weren't soooo keen on that). Haven't you always wanted to swim in the Gulf of Tonkin?

So, no swimming this day, but the girls got off of the boat and RAN, ran, RAN through the sand in the rain. Olivia - showing us the gloriousness of Ha long Bay (while Brad is enjoying a beer behind me and I am under an umbrella to stay dry).

And Alessandra amid her jog on the beach. The only other people in the water were a large group of Russians. Who, by the way, have really good taste in swimwear.

We were greeted back on the boat by another phenomenal dinner (complete with loads of fresh seafood) and after dinner you could go fishing with the guides. Not one other person on board wanted to (there were only 2 other couples with us on our boat) except for......

Olivia - our fishing girl. Note the Vietnamese squat position. She fits right in. (she didn't catch anything, but enjoyed being out there at night).

The next morning, we got onto a small boat (rowed by a person) to go into another area unreachable by large boat.

The boat ahead of us - at the ticket area (all floating cities)

Where are they taking us?

We saw monkeys from our boat and threw them bananas.

Alessandra - very happy about the monkeys.

Under the cave...

and into a quiet and serene place.

Back onto the Junk for lunch and the ride back into the port.

Here are the girls poking their heads out of our cabin. Note that we were right on the water - and I have a feeling that safety requirements aren't the same in Viet Nam. Thankfully Alessandra didn't have one of her acrobatic moments while we were on board.

Outside our cabin...

Highly recommend Ha long Bay. We were only disappointed (slightly) that the weather wasn't clearer. It would have been wonderful to see it even more grand than it was.

Hanoi - Day 1 - continued.

As we continued our half day tour (we saw SO much that first day), we went into the center of the city and saw lots of pagodas and many other parks.

Here is one of the pagodas that I liked best. It was tall, narrow and each window houses a Buddha.

The girls in front of a tree that started as a branch from India

I liked this view because you have the old pagoda in the foreground and the modern building in the background. Southeast Asia is a huge clash of modern and old.

One place we went was a celebration of Confucius. It was a place for learning and study (historically). Lovely grounds.

After a visit to many temples and places of history. We did stop for a visit (per our request) at the Hoa Lo Prison (otherwise known as The Hanoi Hilton). What surprised me was that the prison was built right in the center of the city (not sure what I was expecting really).

The front of the prison.

The below photo is of how the prison looked when it was all intact. They have now taken most of the building down and built up large apartment buildings all around the historical part of the prison site.

They had a number of the cells still intact. Alessandra enjoyed looking inside.

The one thing that made it most "real" was the models that they had inside the prison. They had it set up like it was historically. It was the one thing on the entire trip that really profoundly hit Olivia (to the point that she wouldn't go back in).

The end of the day. A Bia Ha Noi (each province has their own beer) and some Pho. Happy Brad.

And here is a corner in Hanoi. The traffic there was unlike any I have ever seen. We took this on an evening stroll. It wasn't as busy as we saw it get, but it gives you some idea.